A 25-year-old Surrey woman who pleaded guilty this week to stabbing her best friend to death two years ago has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Jessica Hanley was charged with the second-degree murder of 23-year-old Burnaby resident Tashina Rae Sutherland. Her trial had been underway since May 26, when she pleaded not-guilty in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

However, on Monday (June 16), three weeks after her trial began, Hanley pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

On Wednesday, Justice Elizabeth Arnold Bailey sentenced Hanley to 10 years in prison. With time already spent in pretrial custody, there are seven years and nine months left of her sentence.

During the trial, the court heard that Hanley and Sutherland had been drinking and doing cocaine the night before Sutherland's death. They were partying at Hanley's boyfriend's home near 138 Street and 106 Avenue – where the women continued to drink the following morning.

At some point when the two were alone in the house that day, Hanley attacked Sutherland, stabbing her multiple times in the living room and then dragging her to the bathroom, where she continued the attack with a second knife. In all, Sutherland suffered 41 stab wounds.

The court heard that Hanley texted her boyfriend and told him she'd killed Sutherland, and later went to her dad's house and told him the same thing. Her father took her to the police and she was arrested.

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